Nathelyn+Collins


 * SUMMARY: Nathelyn Collins, age 17, died at Cook County Hospital on August 13, 1954 after an abortion perpetrated by lay abortionist Rev. Clarence Loveaux.**

Nathelyn Collins, age 17, died at Cook County Hospital on August 13, 1954 from complications of an abortion perpetrated by Rev. Clarence Loveaux in a back room of his storefront church, Pentecostal Righteous Temple of God.

Adding another bizarre twist to this situation, the father of a teenage girl picked up by police as a material witness reported her as kidnapped because he hadn't believed that the men who had taken her into custody were real police officers until she was located at a juvenile holding facility.

Loveaux, age 59, insisted that he had only been "giving treatment" to Nathelyn, not performing an abortion. However, he had two small rooms at the back of the church that were fully equipped with all the medical tools necessary for an abortion practice. He was arrested when another 17-year-old white girl identified him as the man who had perpetrated an abortion on her.

Police, who had staked out the church for two weeks prior to the raid, said that Loveaux charged between $5 and $100 for abortions.



Sources:
 * "Girl, 17, Held in Abortion Inquiry," //Chicago Tribune//, Sept. 17, 1954
 * "Arrest Chicago 'Divine Healer' in 'Abortion' Raid on Church," //Jet//, Sept. 30, 1954